The present specification relates generally to compositions that include barite and carbon fibers and the use thereof in perforating devices.
Perforating devices are often used to generate one or more perforations through a well casing in oil and natural gas wells. Typically, a perforating device having an array of explosive-charged perforators is lowered downhole into the well in a perforating gun. The perforating gun typically includes a closed metal cylinder that protects the perforators prior to firing. When the gun is at the correct depth in the well, the perforators are fired, sending shaped charge jets outward through the side of the gun, through the fluid between the gun and the well casing, through the well casing, and finally into the oil-bearing or natural-gas bearing rock. The resulting holes in the well casing allow oil or natural gas to flow into the well and to the surface. The remains of the perforating device, including the gun, must then be withdrawn from the well after the perforators have been fired.